


“it reminded me of you.”

by clickingkeyboards



Series: one hundred ways to say 'i love you' [2]
Category: Murder Most Unladylike Series - Robin Stevens
Genre: Crushes, Exasperated Daisy Wells, Exasperated George Mukherjee, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Not Actually Unrequited Love, friendship fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-16 16:02:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21273884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clickingkeyboards/pseuds/clickingkeyboards
Summary: In the middle of an investigation into a missing person in the middle of the West End, Alexander stops Hazel as their best friends run ahead of them, all to gift her something.Modern AUWritten for the second prompt in the '100 ways to say "I love you"' prompt list by p0ck3tf0x on Tumblr.





	“it reminded me of you.”

“We are going to be late!” Daisy shrieks.

I shoot her a poisonous look as I turn to the mirror again. While she may not care about how she looks when we go out with the boys, I very much do. Besides, Daisy looks impeccably pretty no matter how she dresses. Last week, Daisy took delight in having her hair cut much shorter, just above her shoulders, and it’s beautifully blonde, capturing light. She’s wearing light blue jeans that are shredded at the knees, a memory of when she jumped off the roof of the car park and onto the shopping centre when we were running from the thief. She’s also wearing a cropped black Panic! hoodie, and rainbow high-tops. It should not work as an outfit but it does.

My hair is stubbornly dull, no matter how much ‘glossy’ and ‘shining’ shampoo and conditioner I load into it. With a sigh, Daisy pushes me out of the way and onto my bed, rooting through my wardrobe until she comes up with something that satisfies her.

“Here!” she huffs, throwing it at me rather violently. “Here, you can impress _ Alexander _.”

She has me wearing a white blouse with a high neckline, a red skirt with buttons all the way from the waist to the hem, black tights, and fluffy socks.

“It’s so stupid,” I say as I put on the socks. “It’s not as if he likes me anyway! I’m just… feeding the infatuation. He’ll laugh when he finds out.”

Thumping down beside me, Daisy says, “Why will he _ laugh _? You’re Hazel Wong, you’re the best person I know. Don’t I keep saying just that? He ought to be honoured that you like him.”

“_ Daisy _, I—” is all I get out before she pulls me into an awkward and one-armed hug. “Now, that’s enough emotions. Out we go to investigate!”

* * *

“Normal teenagers,” says George, taking a long draught of his hot chocolate, “Go out shopping on Saturday afternoons. We detect missing persons cases.”

Looking at the Waterstones bag at my feet for the twentieth time in as many minutes, I say, “We would be _ awful _ at being normal.”

“Oh, for god’s sake!” With a snarl, George swipes up the bag and puts it beside his chair, where I can’t see it. We’re sat at one half of a square table, the other half open for the girls. “And you say that you don’t like her!”

“I don’t!”

I shout it so loudly that people crane their heads around to look at us. With a scowl, George says, “Shush! And… oh, sure you don’t! You shuffle and blush and speak different around her, text her late into the night, talk about her all day, and you’ve — oh, I don’t know — done _ everything _recently with the hope of getting her attention. But no, of course you aren’t in love!”

I glower at him. “Not so loud! They’ll be here any moment.”

True to my word, Hazel and Daisy walk in the doors that second, making a beeline for our table. I gulp and look down at my lap. _ Hazel. _ She’s dressed very prettily but that’s not what I’m looking at. I’m looking at _ her. _ Everything about her is bright, her face lit up with a laugh, her eyes caught in the warm light of the coffee shop, and her kind personality wrapping around all of us in an instant.

“Right, disappearances,” Daisy greets us, sitting down opposite George. “I’ve got the news articles saved on my laptop, do you have the newspapers?”

We nod, and George produces his bundle of newspapers from his bag. “Here. Now, where’s the red pen?”

* * *

Three hours later, we’ve each had several drinks — from milkshakes to hot chocolate to smoothies to coffees — and we’re much closer to solving the case.

“So we’ve determined that at least one of her friends is lying about the last time she was seen,” Daisy summarises.

With a nod, George adds, “Annie lying is understandable, as she wants to hide from her parents that she actually saw Avery when they were climbing on the roof of the shopping centre. She didn’t want them to know she was breaking rules. However, Georgia has no motive for lying. But, looking at her Facebook profile… her boyfriend, Dylan, used to date Avery. Her boyfriend is much, much older than her and we don’t know why he broke it off with Avery.”

“I can find out,” Hazel says, looking at Daisy for approval. “Alfred Cheng’s cousin — Victoria — is friends with Dylan’s sister, Elouise.”

It’s rare that Hazel is the one with connections but Daisy is elated by it. “Oh! Hazel, that’s brilliant! Get her phone number! Do you know how she feels about her brother?”

“I know,” I say, the first time I’ve spoken in quite a while. “I was speaking to Ethan, Elouise’s twin brother, last month. He came to me with an issue about not having enough time to do homework because I’m the rep of our house. Both him and Elouise hate Dylan. It shouldn’t be a problem getting her to tell you everything you need.”

With a noise of approval, George writes this new connection onto his spider diagram. “Good thinking, Hastings.”

“Daisy,” Hazel asks as she types a message out to Alfred Cheng, “How is Amina?”

The two girls lock eyes with their best-friends-only expressions on their faces and Daisy says, “Damn you, Watson.”

Hazel breaks out into spluttering giggles, covering her mouth with her hands. It rings like bells in my ears despite being rather loud and obnoxious on principle. I won’t pretend it sounds lovely. It just sounds _ happy _and I’m in love with that.

“Who’s this Amina?” George asks, a knowing look on his face. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out what he has: Daisy has a crush.

“This dreadfully annoying new girl in our year,” she replies in a hurry, blushing to the tips of her ears. “Now, Watson, any reply from Alfred?”

We all fall about laughing at her poor attempt at changing the subject.

* * *

“We have broken so many laws I don’t have the fingers to count them,” Alexander hisses in my ear.

We are squashed up beside each other in a supply closet in an _ Oxfam _of all things, while Daisy and George stand on the shelves above us and rummage for the hatch into the roof.

He is so close to me. So, so close. Our arms are pressed together and my hair tickles his lips. “I know!” I whisper. “We could be arrested!”

“Ha!” crows Daisy, and George pushes open the hatch upwards.

“Up we go,” George says, reaching down to take Alexander’s hands and pull him up. Daisy has already climbed out of the hatch, so George reaches down only to be batted out of the way by Alexander.

The ensuing argument is whispered, then George throws up his hands and races after Daisy, and Alexander reaches down to clasp my hands and help me out. Lit from behind like the setting sun, he looks rather regal.

Daisy and George are away, climbing across the top of the shopping centre, following the steps taken in the recorded Instagram live video of when Avery and her friends had done the same.

Shuffling, Alexander says, “Oh, Hazel? I— uh— wait.”

Surprised, I turn and he’s rummaging in his paper Waterstones bag. “Here.” It’s a book. A leather-bound Charles Dickens book. “It reminded me of you.”

I reach forward to take it but he doesn’t let go. When I look up, his handsome hazel eyes are flitting about my face before landing on my lips. He leans in and…

“WATSON!” Daisy shrieks. “Where _ are _you?!”

George sounds equally annoyed. “Hastings!” he calls out. “Alex! _ Hurry the fuck up. _”

I grab Alexander’s sleeve before he can walk off. “Let’s… tomorrow. Tomorrow’s Sunday, and exams are over. Let’s grab a drink tomorrow morning. Make it a date.”

His smile is dazzling. “I’d like that, Hazel.”


End file.
